The 12^th session of RCD Forum, under the title: "Security of Iraq: the cornerstone of regional security" was held in cooperation with Chatham House.

During the session, prominent figures have delivered speeches, who are :

1. Mr. Faleh Al-Fayadh, Advisor to the Iraqi National Security

2- Mr. Karim Sinjari, Minister of Interior of Kurdistan Region of Iraq

3. Professor Toby Doug, a Researcher at the London School of Economics

4 - Lina Khatib, Director of the Middle East program at Chatham House

5 - Lieutenant-General Othman Al-Ghanmi, Head of Staff of the Iraqi Army

6. Renad Mansour, Iraq Program Officer at Chatham House Institute (Session Moderator)

 Mr. Faleh Al-Fayadh pointed out that the security situation is important for the region, since Iraq is a strategic axis, the emergence of ISIS had raised all the contradictions in the region so that Turkey and Syria were affected by this sequence, then said that ISIS made the country an international conflict arena, in addition to the American-Iranian dispute and its effects on the Iraqi situation. Al-Fayadh added that the main problem in the Ministry of Interior is not the an institutional one but it lay in corruption and mismanagement and the cadres that did not receive sufficient training, which produced by successive governments.

 Professor Toby Dodg said that the Ministry of the Interior since 2004-2006 politicized a lot, and there are problems related to the corruption, and the number of fake employees may reach 25 percent. And that what has been achieved from 2009-2014, has improved the country so it  must be sustained.

After that Mr. Karim Sinjari tackled the security in Iraq, saying that extremist thought is a global phenomenon, as well as a serious threat to all religious values, and before we think seriously about facing the terrorist group, we have to know the basis of extremist thought that contributes in creating terrorism. The establishment of security and stability needs to be serious in order to preserve the social fabric and starting a genuine reconciliation process, far from retaliation for the prosecution of those who have committed crimes against the security forces.

Othman Al-Ghanmi said that the security situation is almost stable and began to restore its role in the regional environment, and we began to reorganize the army systematically, as well as the development of the intelligence system, and the activation of military industries.

On the ongoing operations in Syria, Al-Ghanmi said: "We have prevented terrorists from entering the Iraqi territory. This was only the result of the efforts of the armed forces and the blood of its martyrs, which granted the freedom for all citizens of the country". "Our military doctrine is derived from political ideology" he added.

 Lina Al-Khatib, in her answer to the question raised on the impact of security in Iraq on Syria, said that this situation is overlapping, and there is a pragmatic deal between the forces in the north-east of Syria, and spoke about the confusion on the issue of US withdrawal from Syria that there is a huge difference on the contrary of Iraq as the Iraqi government decides that, but for the situation in Syria is not similar, so that the withdrawal is not guaranteed.

 It is clear through the statements of the speakers and the actual reality of security in Iraq that the impact has exceeded the country and the region surrounding it to the international arena, and this is what RCD did to accomplish, it  was able to listen to the representatives of these countries to the leaders of the security services and to investigate the situation directly, and its relationship with the policies of those countries, in the presence of an advanced elites from strategic research centers of different countries of the world.